Continuing from my last post, January has been another busy month at LPC. The 4 week period between New Years and Chinese New Year is marked by an increased level of stress on campus, both in and out of school mainly due to one cause: CCE. CCE stands for Chinese Cultural Evening, and is structured much like the other cultural evenings, such as the prior mentioned African and European evenings, but on a much greater scale. Since half of the students at LPC are from Hong Kong, the show incorporates the talents of many more people, and thus it requires a far greater level of organization. Due to this, the last few weeks have pushed many students towards sleep deprivation, but ultimately, the show turned out incredibly.
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Irrelevant to the rest of this blog post, but we had
a block biking/hiking trip this month |
Going back a few weeks, my month started out pretty regularly, with a somewhat balanced level of school, friends, and life. However, the end of my free time was inevitable as I simultaneously became involved in a play, SAT prep, and lion dance. I'll expand on these now that I finally have the time to write, since two of the three mentioned issues were completed yesterday.
In terms of the play I joined, much progress still needs to be made. At LPC, most students take part in at least one play to help out the theater students who direct plays for part of their IB grade. I ended up being cast in "The Accidental Death of Anarchist", which frankly I'm still confused about, since we've only rehearsed part of the first act. Due to constant scheduling conflicts with CCE rehearsals, the cast has only met a few times. Luckily, the play isn't until March, so I know we'll have plenty of time get the show in line eventually. Hopefully my acting will be better than the last time I was in a play (acting as a genie in a fifth grade performance was not my forte).
In other news, my favorite aspect of American culture returned to haunt me: standardized testing! Since the National Merit corporation decided to arbitrarily cancel my National Merit status due to my delayed graduation, I had to appease them by taking another SAT. I decided to actually learn English grammar this time, because I realized even as a native speaker, I had a weak grasp on written tenses and idioms, at least those tested on the writing section of the exam. After a few days sitting on the sunny roof with a SAT prep book in hand, I took the test, and felt pretty decent about it. Regardless of the results, I am happy to say I will never take another PLAN, ACT, PSAT, or SAT in my life.
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Lion dance
Thanks Jane Ter-Zakaryan for these three pictures |
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| I'm part of the top lion in this picture |
After the exam was over, I had a few short hours to attend final lion rehearsals and otherwise get ready for CCE. Lion dance is a traditional Chinese performance, generally performed around Chinese New Year that involves groups of two people wearing lion suits and completing stunts to either drumming or Chinese music. As a result, it's one of the performances that is included in CCE, which means that it would require near constant practice to meet the high standards of the show. Despite rehearsing for 2 hours each night for almost two weeks, we had our fair share of scolding about our performance, mainly revolving around the fact that we decided to include Western music (Wrecking Ball) in a Chinese performance. Apparently twerking isn't a Chinese value. Anyways, after we agreed/were pressured to return to traditional Chinese culture, we still weren't able to perfect the routine until the day of the show, due to a steady stream of falls, trips, and lion collisions. In the end, we pulled our act together in time for the show, and we were all very pleased with our progress over those weeks.
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Dragon Dance
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The rest of the CCE show was also great, with an interesting amalgamation of humor, tradition, and performances. From the scene of Mulan confronting her tiger mother to the murder of the boy band Wong Direction, the entire script managed to simultaneously entertain and inform. When the last performance ended, an intense dragon dance, everyone rushed the courtyard to congratulate the members of CCE for their hard work. Afterwards, the Chinese themed dance was held (but not really, considering it was all Western music).
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| My new Chinese outfit |
Now that the busyness of the last few weeks has calmed down, I've had to time to get ready for my next adventure: a one week trip across Singapore and Malaysia during Chinese New Year. I'm planning on diving, hiking, and spending time on the beaches of Tioman Island, Malaysia, before being hosted by my part Singaporean friend while exploring the cultural melting pot of Singapore. I can't wait to go on the trip, but first I need to make it through this shortened school week filled with not so short exams and papers. This month has been eventful, but entirely worth it (with the exception of the redundant SAT), and I hope next month will turn out as well!
